Urban Trout Fishing

Myself and Martin have been online friends for more years than I care to remember and we have never met, mainly due to differing work patterns and numerous other excuses we both keep coming up with but today the excuses fell by the wayside and we organised to meet, Martin sending me some dodgy travel directions to a back lane down south in Bandit Country, certainly wasn't up the Dales that's for sure!

After the journey into bandit Country I pulled up in a  lay-by on a side road, as I opened the door there were a few left overs from ladies of the night I wouldnt like to comment on what they contained but it wasn't milk for your tea that's for sure, Martin arrived about 5 minutes later, and after the obligatory greetings and exchange of gifts, float makers & minnow makers would understand, others wouldnt.

The weather on the trip down had been thunder storms off and on but on arrival the weather was fine with some sun and the forecast was no rain until lunch........BBC weather again you tell lies!

Being a sensible fellow that I am, I threw  a wet-proof jacket in my vest, Martin being from Bandit Country didn't!

After setting up and the brief walk down to the stream, & I emphasis the word stream, we set about chasing the inhabitants. We dropped into the stream...Martin literally dropping in, luckily he was wearing chest waders, or he would have got wet.....lol...read on and see what I laugh at.

Just downstream of a small bridge was our first run and within a few minutes we both had small trout  in the hand, nothing bigger than the palm of your hand but beautifully marked and feisty for their size.

Martin negotiating below the bridge heading upstream, note the sunshine.











We fished on up though the stream  taking fish as we went and the thing I was surprised at the most was the depth of water in some of the small pools, up to our waists in some of the places and wonderful hiding places for the numerous trout we spotted on our journey upstream.

The fish were small but beautifully marked and plentiful taking both the dry flies I was fishing & the nymphs Martin was fishing. I even proved you dont need a fly to catch fish as my flies were covered in a piece of dried grass which I had hooked up on and in the retrieval a fish rose and took the grass, that's natural fishing for you.

Martin decided to take it one better and have a double hook up whilst fishing the Duo, one on dry & one on the nymph both at the same time, something that doesn't happen to often, my hat off to him.

Can you spot the rod?, Thankfully not very clearly as Martin had brought his Carbon Tenkara rod which after some convincing I took a go of, I'm sure he just wanted a shot of me holding a carbon Rod, thankfully it came out hidden against the undergrowth in the background....Normal service resumed in the next picture and back on the Cane

As we moved upriver the heavens opened and the thunder & lighting overhead came down with some severity, Now this is where I opened up my pack & put on my waterproof, the same cannot be said about Martin!

As the rain fell we were still amongst the fish & Martin captured me in action with one of the stream's inhabitants, & the end result of a beautifully formed small wild brown trout.

We negotiated some tight swims and there was a few occasions where we had to retrieve the flies out of the overhead branches and surrounding greenery.

Martin with one of the bigger inhabitants from the stream, tenkara done the business, before the heavens opened.

Just before lunch we decided to call it a day on the small stream and head back for 2 reasons, Martin was soaked to the skin and there was a couple of delicious pork pies sitting in the boot of the car that needed some attention.

With over 50 fish taken from the small stream between us and numerous fish dropped we estimated if we had hooked and landed everything the number would definitely be in excess of 100 fish, who would have imagined it from such a small stream and every fish totally wild.


Martin had plans to fish another stream in the afternoon and when we arrived the stream had lots of Storm run-off from the surrounding factories flowing into it making sight fishing impossible, but we decided to give it a go anyway, being the perfect guide & host he was, he allowed me to negotiate the steep grass bank first and just as he was saying I normally slide down on my backside, I was gone, sliding down the bank, thankfully unlike him I never hit the water at the bottom.

He allowed me first cast in the new stream and after watching where I had cast informed me where I was casting would be no good as it was too shallow, he retracted the words in the next breath when he saw me land this fish, Bandit Country Guides....Huh.....lol

The stream again wasn't much wider than the length of the rods but the coloured water made wading very difficult and Martin's knowledge was paramount in our safe passage up through the endless Urban obstacles contained in the stream but it was still paying off as we were both capturing fish from pools as we went.

Martins confidence was starting to falter with the amount of coloured water in the stream and what happened next was superb, As his confidence was taking a bit of a dive he hooked what turned out to be the best fish of the day and estimated to be over 2lbs, and to think where it had come from the water level wouldnt even have covered my knees.

The smile soon returned, and no wonder, what a truly beautiful wild fish.









Another couple of trout came to the net before we decided to call it a day, Martin was soaked to the skin, and we both knew it would soon be impossible to fish with the amount of water flowing into the stream from all different sources along its length, so we made our way back downstream where we managed to grab a few photos of cane rods in the urban environment.

With a parting shot of us both as we made our way back to the cars, to peel off the wet clothes, well Martin's were wet, mine were so warm & dry, but I'm not from Bandit Country!

A great day with a great mate and after years of talking about getting together it certainly did not disappoint no matter how wet it was, I have to say a BIG thank you to martin for my first Urban fly fishing experience and so many beautiful wild fish, I cant promise as many fish next time we meet but I can give you scenery that even I am proud of as next time its up the Dale.